GAME THREAD: MBB vs. South Florida

[Charleston Pony]

Smith's first inbound pass gets knocked out of bounds.
Almost gets called for a 5-second violation — timeout, SMU

Very frustrating to watch this team try to inbounds the ball when you know USF is turning up the pressure and looking for a steal or quick foul and we aren't even running any screens. Then we have a chance to hit Zhuric coming off a screen and running past the D but hesitate and don't attempt to throw it in to him (would hope there was a defensive player back that I just could not see on the TV broadcast)

[tristatecoog]

Best three point shooting since Tulsa home game.

[Charleston Pony]

Best three point shooting since Tulsa home game.

When Williamson hits a trey you know you are ON! Jalen caught fire briefly and was matching Harris and Todo knocked down a couple to help keep the lead at 3 possessions. Makes a difference when there is good spacing and ball movement and guys get open looks

[ponyswim]

Williamson,Smith, Todo, Ambrose-Hilton played good games. Phelps played under control till the last few minutes and was really bad in that timeframe - turnover, early shots, possession where he only touches the ball and of course the free throws. We took fewer bad shots than any game in a long time - therefore the good shooting percentage. Nutall did not force shots much, but he forced passes that ended up being turnovers.Ambrose-Hilton was good as well. Progress for 35 minutes or so. Good to see.

[ponyboy]

It’s nice to win a close one.

[Charleston Pony]

I feared we were going to pull a Hawaii but yes...it's nice to win a close one! Have to beat the lower level AAC teams in Moody

[Charleston Pony]

Williamson,Smith, Todo, Ambrose-Hilton played good games. Phelps played under control till the last few minutes and was really bad in that timeframe - turnover, early shots, possession where he only touches the ball and of course the free throws. We took fewer bad shots than any game in a long time - therefore the good shooting percentage. Nutall did not force shots much, but he forced passes that ended up being turnovers.Ambrose-Hilton was good as well. Progress for 35 minutes or so. Good to see.

Phelps had 7 assists vs only 2 turnovers which is outstanding for him but I agree that he and Odigie often try to do too much and get themselves in trouble forcing bad shots and ignoring open teammates at crunch time. As a team the guys had 24 assists vs only 14 turnovers which is great and everyone but Ricardo Wright had fewer turnovers than assists...something this team has done only once this season but it sure is fun to watch when they play that way. Larry Brown would be proud.

[ponyswim]

True on Phelps turnovers vs assists - but he had a lot of terrible possessions in the last few minutes, including taking a somewhat forced shot with 15 seconds on the shot clock, then trying to through up a lob off an offensive rebound, where the clock was at about 28. The game should have over much sooner with SMU winning by 7 points or so. He did better for most of the game. His individual defense is also often not very good. Too much gambling, going for steals and giving the other team easy baskets. He is making progress - I give him credit for that.
Interesting to listen to Lanier talking about Williamson on radio after the game. Said Williamson had off season wrist surgery that he is still recovering from. He said that when he was in HS has a great outside shooter - but his wrist became a problem in college. I had not heard that before.

[Charleston Pony]

True on Phelps turnovers vs assists - but he had a lot of terrible possessions in the last few minutes, including taking a somewhat forced shot with 15 seconds on the shot clock, then trying to through up a lob off an offensive rebound, where the clock was at about 28. The game should have over much sooner with SMU winning by 7 points or so. He did better for most of the game. His individual defense is also often not very good. Too much gambling, going for steals and giving the other team easy baskets. He is making progress - I give him credit for that.
Interesting to listen to Lanier talking about Williamson on radio after the game. Said Williamson had off season wrist surgery that he is still recovering from. He said that when he was in HS has a great outside shooter - but his wrist became a problem in college. I had not heard that before.

If Williamson is able to regain his shooters touch, this becomes a completely different team because he's another guy who can create his own shots inside of 15 feet which is invaluable in a half court game. This team does well in transition but has struggled all season in the half court. Really encouraging to see good spacing, sharing the ball and guys knocking down open looks yesterday. Came very close to having 7 guys in double figures. Do that night in and night out and this becomes a team that's tough to defend against.

[digman52]

I thought Phelps was going to lose that game for us at the end. Between his dumb shot, and then really dumb alley oop pass, instead of hanging on to the ball, and letting us run 20 more seconds off the clock. Hopefully he will learn from these mistakes.

[Charleston Pony]

I thought Phelps was going to lose that game for us at the end. Between his dumb shot, and then really dumb alley oop pass, instead of hanging on to the ball, and letting us run 20 more seconds off the clock. Hopefully he will learn from these mistakes.

Let's not forget missing 2 key FTs. As Coach Lanier said, these are great teaching moments and sometimes easier after a win than a defeat. Phelps is a tremendous talent and I expect he will improve significantly year to year as he gains more experience